#437 – Better Onboarding UX

Onboarding UX in our SaaS product never has a one-and-done solution. As we grow, we constantly refine how users discover new features, get started with their teams, and navigate security needs—all without disrupting existing workflows. A smooth onboarding experience not only helps teams get started faster but also strengthens long-term attachment to the product. Lately we’ve been working to shape and improve a few onboarding UX areas.

New features should be easy to discover and use, without users having to take a deep dive or reach out for support. As we introduce meeting notes and AI-generated insights, we’re designing empty states that guide users—offering starter templates, contextual hints, and clear actions to get the most out of the product. These small design choices help users quickly understand what’s possible without overwhelming them.

A common onboarding hurdle is users struggling to find their organization or team, sometimes leading to duplicate workspaces. To solve this, we’re implementing a verification process that helps users find others in their domain, discover public teams, and automatically join default teams set by admins. These improvements reduce friction and ensure users land in the right place from day one.

For admins managing large companies, security and access control are critical. To support enterprise customers, we’re introducing SAML user group control, giving admins more granular control over permissions and access. This makes it easier to manage users at scale while keeping organizations secure.

Improving onboarding is an ongoing effort. Each of these enhancements—introducing new features with better starting templates, streamlining team discovery, and strengthening security—helps users get up and running faster while keeping our product intuitive as it evolves. By focusing on these key areas, we’re making it easier for teams to onboard, collaborate, and get the most out of our platform.

This week we saw a healthy number of sign-ups and number of meetings held. We think some of our customers took springtime breaks, and now teams are getting busier again. We’ll keep an eye out for seasonal effects as we head into summer.

…demoed our latest Mattermost plugin. We’ve completed our first big milestone on the plugin and are eager for stakeholder feedback as it sees more real-world use.

…shipped a number of enhancements and bug fixes. We’ve made a number of small enhancements that account admins have requested for managing accounts, and made some efforts to clean up issues that support has spotted along the way.

…shaped some improvements to our Retro UX. Recently we released richer editing features on Retro cards like the ability to add GIFs. This core change to how folks input content has required some refinement to our interfaces for the smoothest Retro experience possible.

…workshop our latest company strategy. We refresh our strategy three times a year. Right now, we’re focused on how to deliver new product offerings—like organizational insights and enterprise management tools—to both new and existing customers who are eager for these additions.

…wrap up our current product work cycle. Next week is our final week for this Shape Up cycle. We’re looking forward to our side quests during the cool down period, and drafting plans for the next cycle.

Have feedback? See something that you like or something you think could be better? Please write to us.